Conventional air cargo pallets consist of an outer rail which runs along the perimeter of a sandwich panel core. This outer rail has holes in which a tie-down ring and bracket assembly are then attached to said outer rail by one time use fasteners. Said fasteners are difficult to remove when replacing a tie-down ring and bracket assembly. Additionally, because tie-down rings and brackets are a fixed assembly, when one or the other is damaged, both must be replaced, increasing the cost of repair. Also, due to the nature of the current fasteners, point loads incur upon force being applied to said tie-down ring and high levels of stress are experienced at the attachment points between the outer rail and tie-down ring. The described tie down ring and load bearing rail assembly obviates these problems by providing a much stronger ring assembly that can carry higher loads, but is designed in a way that provides load paths that distribute and avoid the concentrated high stress loading points, and is furthermore assembled from components that are re-usable and provide a simple mechanism to assemble, disassemble, and reassemble the tie down ring and load bearing rail assembly.